The Catherine Lim Collection

This book consists of three celebrated short story collections and an early novel, each reflecting Lim’s prowess as a storyteller chronicling a society in transit, where multiethnic characters struggle with their identities as the past and the present intersect, mingle and clash. The Serpent’s Tooth (1982) Within each family lie the proverbial skeletons better left untouched, lest the truths uncovered become to horrifying. The Serpent’s Tooth is fraught with dashed hopes and wasted efforts, where characters grope around desperately in the murky depths of self delusion, where hands reach beyond the grave and resurface to haunt. They Do Return…but gently lead them back (1983) 15 tales of the paranormal. Unlike the bloodthirsty, melodramatic tales favoured at gatherings, the substance of these are commonplace, stories behind the ghost stories: of relationships that death cannot sever; of personalities so forceful they invade the land of the living after death; of rituals and customs, the unexplained and the unexpected. Characters so close to home that you start believing…O Singapore!: Stories in Celebration (1988) From the playfully satirical pen of Catherine Lim comes the wild, weird and wacky world of O Singapore! This is ’90s Singapore where the campaigns and the directives of the unremittingly competent leadership come face to face with the undeniably human fads, foibles and follies of the Singaporean people. The Woman’s Book of Superlatives (1993) Catherine Lim beguiles the reader with a startling contrast: the deification of women in ancient myths, against the degradation of women at the hands of their men. Time and again, an unwonted bond of sisterhood appears, and is affirmed in a final fateful collision.

This book consists of three celebrated short story collections and an early novel, each reflecting Lim{u2019}s prowess as a storyteller chronicling a society in transit, where multiethnic characters struggle with their identities as the past and the present intersect, mingle and clash. The Serpent{u2019}s Tooth (1982) : Within each family lie the proverbial skeletons better left untouched, lest the truths uncovered become to horrifying. The Serpent{u2019}s Tooth is fraught with dashed hopes and wasted efforts, where characters grope around desperately in the murky depths of self delusion, where hands reach beyond the grave and resurface to haunt. They Do Return{u2026}but gently lead them back (1983): 15 tales of the paranormal. Unlike the bloodthirsty, melodramatic tales favoured at gatherings, the substance of these are commonplace, stories behind the ghost stories: of relationships that death cannot sever; of personalities so forceful they invade the land of the living after death; of rituals and customs, the unexplained and the unexpected. Characters so close to home that you start believing{u2026}O Singapore!: Stories in Celebration (1988): From the playfully satirical pen of Catherine Lim comes the wild, weird and wacky world of O Singapore! This is {u2019}90s Singapore where the campaigns and the directives of the unremittingly competent leadership come face to face with the undeniably human fads, foibles and follies of the Singaporean people. The Woman{u2019}s Book of Superlatives (1993): Catherine Lim beguiles the reader with a startling contrast: the deification of women in ancient myths, against the degradation of women at the hands of their men. Time and again, an unwonted bond of sisterhood appears, and is affirmed in a final fateful collision.

This collection of eight short stories combines Catherine Lim’s sharp powers of observation with her insightful comments on the conflicts, both internal and external, brought about by love in the lives of men and women in modern-day Singapore. The result is a vibrant assortment of stories and voices brimming with courage, deep introspection and heartfelt emotion. Powerful and riveting, this collection is sure to captivate your mind and tug at your heartstrings and with its relentless prose and evocative charm.

A story set in 50's Malaya at the height of the communist guerilla activity. This is a backdrop for a story of love, passion, desire and duty as a beautiful married chinese women, Mei Kwei, falls in love with a priest who saves the woman caught with Mei's husband from public embarrassment.

The 12 stories in this collection electrify by their dazzling diversity of subject, their relentless observation and comment and their adroit use of language. Through the dark labyrinths of the secret lives of men and women in Singapore, Catherine Lim once again uses her sharp powers of observation to comment masterfully on our complex relationships against the immense and brilliant backdrop of our society’s achievements. Laying bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart, these stories celebrate the surprising power of love and its effects on every one of us.

Catherine Lim’s free-wheeling imagination cheerfully dispenses with all constraints to tell stories of that other world. Written with an exaggerated sense of earnestness and caution, the eighteen tales in this collection elicit in the reader the very goosebumps of terror she had herself experienced as a child listening to such tales. As an adult, these goosebumps persist for her. However, they no longer arise from fear, but from a sense of awe and mystery that she feels when she considers this large existential question: Despite our extensive scientific knowledge today, what do we know of the supernatural? What can we know of the supernatural? Catherine’s deep and abiding sense of mystery is reflected in the pronouncement by one of her characters in the last story in this collection: “I don't know, I don't know. I wish I did.”